Castor beans turn arid land into a 9-month cash cow for ENI farmer

A farmer in Malindi has turned five acres of unproductive arid land into a nine-month castor-bean cash cow with biofuel outgrowing that is now being sharply expanded by energy company ENI.

The castor plant, which produces continually for nine months after three months of growth, is drought-tolerant demanding a warm climate with temperatures between 20°C to 30°C and moderate rainfall (500 to 750 mm annually) to produce a bumper harvest making it perfect for dry regions in Kenya. This has seen oil energy company Eni Kenya contract farmers in arid and semi-arid areas in Kenya such as Makueni, Kitui, Kilifi, Kwale, Taita Taveta, Nakuru, Baringo, Embu, Meru, Machakos, Lamu, and Malindi to supply its processing facilities in Makueni and Mombasa.

According to the International Energy Agency, demand for biofuels is set to increase to 38 billion litres over the next five years– a 30 per cent from the previous five years. This is because they offer cheaper solutions to reduce transport carbon emissions to electric travel options.

“Since I was a boy, what I learned was castor beans were amongst the few weeds that could grow on our farm. I did not know then that these weeds would earn me Sh400,000 in three months,” said Japhet Ganzala, a Nairobi-based architect.

After being introduced to castor farming by a friend in Lamu in January this year, who was contracted to Eni Kenya he got the number of their contact person in Malindi hoping to put his idle five acres to use.

Being a crop he’d never heard of, Ganzala was sceptical about delving head-first into it. This was soon changed when the company offered to plough his shamba right before the May long rains, give him hybrid castor seeds for free, and hand him a contract paying Sh30 for a kilo of castor beans they would pick from him.

“Unlike the ‘weed’ castors, these Brazil-imported seeds mature in just 90 days,” Gonzala pointed out while holding a fruiting stem. The marvel of the crop is that it is harvested continually throughout the year. After the first harvest, it yields new beans every 30 days and produces optimally for nine months before it is replaced.

Castor seeds are sown at a gap of 0.5 metres between one castor to the next and 1.5 metres between a row of the shrub. This fits up to 5,000 casto trees in an acre. Spacing is crucial in limiting the crop’s growth. If they are squeezed in this encourages lateral growth which can see the small tree reach three meters tall as the plants compete for sunlight.

For his first harvest, Ganzala harvested four tonnes of beans from an acre earning him Sh 600,000 gross profit. He is now gearing up for his second harvest.

Ganzala has intercropped his castor with Nyota beans which fit into the gaps and give him a double crop.

Though drought tolerant, the crop prefers to grow in well-fertilised sand-loam soil. It can be affected by thrips, aphids, caterpillars, and chafer grubs which can be sprayed with storebought pesticides used for other crops.

Once the crop matures in three months, the first few pods begin to crack and the branch holding them up begins to wither and brown. The crop is harvested by cutting or breaking this whole branch and its beans.

Farmers are advised to sun dry them for 10 to 14 days to prevent spoilage and maintain the bean quality. From Ganzala’s farm, they are picked by Eni and transported to their seed collection and pressing plant at Bonje at the Kwale Mombasa border.

ENI Kenya: 0709993200

Photo Courtesy

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